Smashed guitar ends up playing happy note

Frank Juliano and Tom Cleary

Updated 9:54 pm, Friday, January 11, 2013

The guitar case for a 1965 Gibson ES-335 is seen stuck in a Delta gate. (Dave Schneider/Facebook)
Photo: Contributed Photo

The guitar case for a 1965 Gibson ES-335 is seen stuck in a Delta...

David Schneider poses with his new custom Gibson guitar at his home in Fairfield, Conn. on Thursday January 11, 2013. It was given to him by Gibson after hearing of his plight of a broken Gibson guitar due to baggage handlers at Delta Airlines.
Photo: Christian Abraham

David Schneider poses with his new custom Gibson guitar at his home...

David Schneider shows his new custom Gibson guitar at his home in Fairfield, Conn. on Thursday January 11, 2013. It was given to him by Gibson after hearing of his plight of a broken Gibson guitar due to baggage handlers at Delta Airlines.
Photo: Christian Abraham

Bridgeport-based rocker Dave Schneider watched as Delta Airlines employees yanked, pulled and ripped at his smashed 1965 Gibson ES-335 guitar, trying for more than an hour to free it from where it had been wedged between a service elevator and a loading dock in an airport baggage claim area.

A guitarist and singer in the hockey-themed and Greenwich-rooted band The Zambonis, and the Jewish group The LeeVees, Schneider had begged Delta to let him carry his fragile guitar on a December flight from Buffalo to Detroit, as he typically does.

But airline officials denied his requests, and said it wasn't their policy.

Actually there is no policy, Schneider said Friday, and one would be helpful. Most airlines will try to get musicians to check their instruments, and some suggest buying an extra seat for it. But usually, through a combination of cajoling and resisting, he's managed to bring his guitars on board flights and stow them in the overhead bin.

It was already a bad day for Schneider and his LeeVees bandmates. They had started in Portland, Maine, and were headed to Tampa when their flight was diverted to Rochester, N.Y., because of bad weather.

The musicians rented a car there and drove to Buffalo, planning to fly into Detroit and from there catch a direct flight to Tampa, where they had an afternoon appearance booked.

It ended up being a 20-hour trip, punctuated by the screeching machinery when his prized guitar slipped off the luggage cart and fell between the dock and the elevator.

Schneider, who owns Jimmy's Army-Navy in downtown Bridgeport, posted his story on his Facebook page Dec. 26, including photos of his damaged "baby."

While Schneider got several half-hearted apologies and an offer of $1,000 to repair the classic Gibson -- about half what the work would cost -- the story spread across the world via news sites and social media. "I never cared much for the terms `trending' and `viral' before, but there is power, like a wizard's wand," he said.

On Jan. 4, when Yahoo! News picked up the story, it blew up. CNN, Gawker and several other media outlets ran the story. It even made the news in Russia, where an English-language radio station called Schneider, who has never played pro hockey, but does sing about it.

Delta -- which initially offered Schneider a $1,000 check -- was suddenly apologetic, and offered to pay for the repairs. It also gave Schneider two vouchers for free flights.

But it was the generosity of another company that gives Schneider's bad dream a happy ending.

On Tuesday, Gibson guitars reached out to Schneider, offering to repair his smashed ax for free. They also offered him a brand-new 50th anniversary re-issue of a 1963 Gibson ES-335 in the same color -- cherry red -- as Schneider's guitar.

"As soon as we saw the picture of the crushed guitar case and heard Dave's story, we felt immense sympathy for him," Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz said in a statement.

"At Gibson we're committed to music and those who love and appreciate their instruments. For musicians like Dave, instruments are practically members of their family. It was only right to replace his guitar, and we are happy to have him at our showroom."

Schneider toured Gibson's New York City showroom on Thursday and left with his new guitar. While there, the musician talked to the company's luthier, or guitar maker, who told him that he only heard of two musicians buying an extra seat for his guitar.

That's not an option for most musicians, Schneider said Friday, but most would pay a small extra charge, of say $50.

His experience, as upsetting as it was, isn't unique, he said. Canadian musician Dave Carroll had a guitar smashed after a flight in 2009, and wrote a song and book about it, both called "United Breaks Guitars.''

The two men connected through Facebook and later talked on the phone. Schneider said he is also working on a song involving baggage handlers and smashed guitars.

Schneider's band, The Zambonis, traces its roots back to Greenwich in the early 1990s when town residents and brothers Peter and Tarquin Katis were rocking with their first band, The Philistines Jr.

Their inaugural album, "Greenwich, CT," caught the ear of John Peel, a well-respected radio DJ from Great Britain, and in 1992 The Philistines ended up recording a prestigious "Peel Session" and touring the UK. Their next EP, "The Continuing Struggles of the Philistines Jr.," was recorded at a basement studio in the Katis brothers' childhood home, and included a funky track called "145 Old Mill Road" that featured a conversation with their parents.

The duo's quirkiness and talent didn't escape Schneider, either. He would call out requests when The Philistines performed at the Safari Club in Norwalk and ended up traveling to England just to "hang out" with the band while they toured.

Schneider wanted to start a band with the brothers, and their songs would be about hockey -- and nothing else. What sounded ridiculous at first became a reality when songs like "Referee's Daughter" and the insanely catchy "Hockey Monkey" became hits.

Eventually, the band's studio moved from Old Mill Road to Bridgeport.

Members of the Zambonis, which also includes Jon Aley, have been known to occasionally use the Katis' Greenwich house as a stopover when they tour.